Ken Cuccinelli’s anti-boob campaign

Virginia’s latest national embarassment — attorney general Ken Cuccinelli — is at it again.

Now he wants to cover up a bare breast on the Virginia State seal.

Cuccinelli recently distributed new lapel pins to his staff with the breast-baring tunic worn by Roman goddess Virtus replaced with an armored breastplate that covers her charms.

The AG first claimed Virginia needed a “more modest” state seal. Now he says the whole thing was a joke.

It’s a joke all right but it is Cuccinelli and his antics that has turned him into a national joke.

“When you ask to be ridiculed, it usually happens,” Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato told the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. “And it will happen here, nationally. This is classical art for goodness sake.”

Cuccinelli has already brought national attention and shame on the Old Dominion with his incredible memo advising state colleges and universities to ignore laws that prohibit discrimination against gays.

That was so off-the-wall that even brother-in-arms governor Bob McDonnell moved quickly to offset the memo.

Cuccinelli’s coverup is not the first time a right-winger has tried to impose his own puritanical revision on symbols. In 2002, U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft ordered partially nude statues at the Justice Department covered.

“Ashcroft had one excuse: it hadn’t been done before and he wasn’t prepared for the critical onslaught that he faced,” Sabato told the Virginian-Pilot “Cuccinelli has no excuse at all. He knows what’s coming because of what happened to Ashcroft. You can only conclude that he enjoys being the center of pointless controversy.”

15 Responses to Ken Cuccinelli’s anti-boob campaign

Doug, you do know that this was done with campaign money and didn’t really involve the state of Va. As I understand it the seal used one of a number of historical seals, it is not one that Mr. Cuccinelli came up with.

So? Cuccinelli’s office admitted early on the money for the pins came from campaign funds. I don’t give a damn if he financed it with a grant from the 700 Club. I wonder if those foolish enough to contribute to his campaign felt this was a wise use of their money.

It’s just another example of phony right-wing moralizing and outright stupidity — two areas in which Cuccinelli and his followers excel.

This isn’t a big deal Lauren, but it gets big press because it reinforces the stereotype of the uptight social conservative who can’t deal with any display of nudity no matter how benign. John Ashcroft did the same thing to a statue in DC years ago and it created a similar fuss. It sounds like something Ned Flanders on the Simpson’s would do (like blocking all channels on his TV except the Christian ones). I guess Cuccinelli just likes the publicity. He just might be the next Dan Quayle.

Quayle was a lightweight. Cuccinelli combines the worst aspects of Rudolph Giuliani and Heinrich Himmler.

Last month Harrisonburg police and the Rockingham County commonwealth’s attorney raided The Breeze, the student newspaper at James Madison University. The authorities wanted all the photos The Breeze took of a riot during JMU’s annual Springfest, so much so that the government was ready to seize all of the newspaper’s equipment. Not surprisingly Cuccinelli defended this police-state conduct.

Why is it that these types (or stereotypes, as Mr. Norton suggests) seem so often to have a closet bursting with skeletons? Who knows about this guy… I’ll just wait to read about it in the papers. At the very least, this is one of the biggest buffoons to ever hold office in our beloved commonwealth.

And what skeletons would you be referring too? When you refer to “something in the closet” you normally would be referring to something hidden. I have yet to see anything from Cuccinelli that has been hidden. Some of you complain about some of the things he does but everything is out in the open. I have talked to the man a number of time and I have a great respect for the fact that he tells you what he thinks and what he will do. There is very little beating around the bush which I find rather refreshing and unusual. Some of his ideas I disagree with but I doubt there is any politician I would agree with on everything.

As I clearly stated (in the form of a rhetorical question), there seems to be enough of a pattern among “uptight social conservative politicians” to imply that there is some probability we may one day learn something interesting about Mr. Cuccinelli. Rather than speculate further, I will wait for that day to arrive.

If you think that “talking to the man a number of times” has given you some kind of window into the man’s phyche (especially when we are talking about a professional politician), you may want to brace yourself emotionally for the rest of what our contemporary political scene has to offer. You’re in for a rough ride, my friend. Doug can tell you a few things about that, based on up-close-and-dirty personal experience.

Regarding the seal, Cuccinelli, and all of us really, should pay greater heed to “sic semper tyrannis” (translation: “thus always to tyrants”) than to the conquering heroine’s bare left breast. Cuccinelli’s lunacy, like that of all tyrants and wannabe tyrants will be vanquished by more exposure, not less. and by less cover-up, not more.